


Gamble Everything

by Art3misiA



Series: Love Fest 2021 works [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Dark, Gen, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Sorry Not Sorry, Yep imma leave you hanging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:49:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29530116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Art3misiA/pseuds/Art3misiA
Summary: Would she risk it all?
Series: Love Fest 2021 works [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2152686
Comments: 16
Kudos: 8
Collections: Love Fest 2021





	Gamble Everything

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MegRaven](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MegRaven/gifts).



> Written for the Fairest of The Rare's Love Fest 2021  
> #TeamCass
> 
> In response to the prompt: Hermione/Sirius/James Potter - Resurrection Stone - "I'll bring them both back."
> 
> Dark, you say?
> 
> I can do that. *evil chuckle*

* * *

Hermione watched as Harry paced the sitting room at Number 12, Grimmauld Place.

Well, actually, it was more of a stagger. He was drunk. Again. Even if she didn’t approve - he was underage, for a start! - she could understand why he’d turned to alcohol to cope after Sirius died. 

Amid all the turmoil he’d faced, the rumours, the scorn and the constant dangers, Sirius had become the one shining light in Harry’s life, the father figure he so desperately wanted. But Bellatrix had put paid to that when she struck him with the killing curse. And because the spell had knocked Sirius through the arch, there hadn’t even been a body to recover.

Compounding all his losses and the fact Voldemort had finally revealed himself was the betrayal Harry had suffered at the hands of Dumbledore, a man he had trusted implicitly. The old man had lied by omission, keeping important information about Voldemort’s connection to Harry from him because—well, Hermione didn’t strictly know why Dumbledore had done it. But the realisation that he couldn’t trust the Headmaster had been the final blow for Harry.

“I’m done with the wizarding world, done with Hogwarts,” Harry growled. “There’s nothing for me here any more.”

The idea - the mad, dangerous, unhinged idea - flickered back into her head again. It went against everything she’d been taught, and besides, there was no guarantee it would work. So much could go wrong. And even if it did, she couldn’t even begin to guess at what the consequences might be. But still…

Still…

She had another reason, one no one knew about. She loved -  _ had loved -  _ Sirius. His recklessness, his passion, and his bright intelligence had drawn her in. She secretly mourned him just as strongly as Harry, albeit for different reasons. But did she dare go through with it, to gamble everything? The risks were huge. If she were found out, she would surely go to Azkaban. And even if he avoided being sent to the notorious wizarding prison, she was sure to be expelled from Hogwarts, to have her wand snapped, her magic stripped…

She was pulled out of her internal debate by movement out of the corner of her eye. Harry had his trunk open on the floor and was throwing clothes, books and belongings haphazardly into it. It seemed he really meant it - he really intended to leave. And if he left, he would be unprotected. Voldemort or one of his Death Eaters would surely track him down. Then he would be killed. 

She couldn’t -  _ wouldn’t -  _ let that happen.

“Harry.”

He either didn’t hear her or ignored her as he slammed down the lid of his trunk, then picked up the bottle of Firewhisky he’d been drinking from and took a swig.

_ “Harry.”  _ She strode up to him and snatched the bottle from his hand. At last he looked up at her, his eyes full of pain and anger.

“What if I can bring him back?” she asked quietly. “Sirius, I mean.”

She reached into her pocket and withdrew the small object she had taken from the Gaunt house.

“It’s the Gaunt family ring,” she explained as Harry stared at it in confusion. “See the stone set into the band? The markings? It’s not just any old adornment - it’s the Resurrection Stone.”

“What...How—?” Harry asked.

“It’s a long story,” she hedged. “All that matters is that I have it now, and I can use it to bring Sirius back.”

Harry’s eyes gleamed with hope and excitement. She hadn’t expected him to ask too many questions, but she was still taken aback by the fervidity that immediately came over him. He snatched it from her before she could react. 

“I can bring them  _ both _ back - Sirius and my father.”

“Wait, Harry—! There’s something else we need to do first—!” She tried to grab it back from him.  _ Why  _ hadn’t she told him what the ring was before she told him what it contained?

But he held it out of her reach and turned away, extending a finger and drawing the ring towards his hand.

“Harry, no—!” Instinctively, she draw her wand, casting a blasting spell, hoping to stop him before he could—

There was a flash that blinded her, and an unearthly scream.


End file.
